The region’s ambulance trust will put extra crews on the road by using private ambulance services and hospitals have been ordered to take patients into A&E quicker.

Those are just two of the outcomes of a risk summit called last week by NHS England and NHS Improvement in response to concerns over how East of England Ambulance Trust (EEAST) coped over Christmas and New Year.

Held behind closed doors on December 30, the meeting between various health organisations looked into the hours upon hours of delays patients faced, where hospitals were inundated and ambulances were left queuing outside emergency departments.

The whistleblower said up to 80 people were harmed or died during the period.

EEAST previously said: “The trust is undertaking a rigorous analysis of that small proportion of calls. Where any suspected cases of potential harm are identified then the trust will exercise its duty of candour to notify patients or their families. It is best practice to always review the effectiveness of any plans and the trust will be doing that.”